I just stayed up half the night to updated 40 computers from Reader 9.4 to

X (10.0.1) in a Windows 2003 SBS domain. All of them now crash when attempting to print to network

printers (i.e. those installed on a server and shared to the workstations), so I just had to remove X and revert back to 9.4 to get them to print. The problem occurs whether I use the direct download method (via adobe.com) or my distributable copy.

Note: You should switch "ON" protected mode after verifying the problem. Purpose of Reader X Protected Mode is to keep your system safe from PDF based exploits and keeping protected mode OFF will leave your system vulnerable.

Turning off Protected mode does resolve the problem immediately, and turning it on again restores the problem. Of cours, this leaves me without a permanent fix, so I am very hesitant to upgrade all the computers again. Is there a fix on the way?

I do not know if this is any help, but here is the content of the appcompt.txt file generated for MS error reporting of the issue.

Internet searche this morning reveal a high level of frustration among systems management staff upon encountering this problem or the related problem involving an inability to open PDF files on network drives--high enough that many are simply disabling protected mode for entire networks, either via group policy or by manual registry entry. I manage many unrelated domains of few computers each (all for different clients) rather than one domain of many computers, so group policies are not a particularly viable option, and I am exploring the .reg file option instead.

A better option, though, would be installation command-line switches, if available. Is there some documentation on installation command-line switches for Adobe Reader X? Specifically, I want to do these two things at setup:

1. Disable protected mode (unless a fix for is forthcoming).

2 Prevent any popups recommending updates. This is a related frustration. I have all my domain computers locked down to prevent users from installing their favorite games, etc., and it is very frustrating having to explain over and over that they need to ignore the Adobe Reader popups indicating an update is available. Should the user go ahead and accept the update, it will either fail due to the user's insufficient security access or perhaps, as in the case of Flash, it will remove the old version but be unable to install the new version, resulting in the users blaming me for their consequent inability to use or install it.

I think I have discovered another very interesting fact: Reader X crashes when printing from any of the 30 computers in the same LAN as my DC (Windows 2003 SBS) that hosts the shared printers. In contrast, I have tested four computers in two remote LANs that connect via hardware VPN and are thus on a different subnet. When opening the same PDF file that crashed when printing in the DC's LAN, from the same network folder, using the same mapped driver letter and same domain user on the workstation and printing to the same shared printer on the server does not result in a crash on any of these.

Is this just coincidence, or can I correctly infer that Protected Mode is location-aware and crashing upon local subnet file and/or print access but not upon access to resources in different subnet via my VPN? If this is true, I am quite sure I do not like the idea of yet another application consuming system resources as it takes upon itself the task of monitoring or checking network locations and/or status.

Has anyone found a solution for this problem? I'm also facing this problem while printing to network printers. It's funny (well, not funny at all) but when i switch from trays or select a different printer i'm able to print. However, when choosing the usual printer/tray, the application crashes.

The thread so far includes questions by a developer at Adobe asking for more information on exactly how it happens leads me to believe they recognize this as a bug, but I have no idea when a fix will be forthcoming.

I resorted to disabling Protected mode. To simplify this, I created a .reg file containing the following. I run this on each computer after installation. This turns off Protected Mode in Adobe Reader 10 for all users of the computer without having to go through all the steps in the menu.

at reader shortcut and then click properties, then you will see the compatability tab. From here you select "run this program in compatability mode for Windows 2000" , click apply and click ok and your done. Don't know why this works, some kind of bug I guess they need to work out.

We have had a few bug reports related to Adobe Reader X protected mode coming in from you in this forum. We have addressed a large number of them in our upcoming Reader update and we would like to hear your feedback.

We just started having a similar problem after doing Windows updates and Adobe Flash player updates over the weekend. Acrobat was already up-to-date. Acrobat Reader will either not open a .pdf on a network share, or if the .pdf opens, it will not print: instead of bringing up the "Print" window, the application closes.

We are running Windows XP SP3 on a Win 2008 R2 domain, with a Win 2003 file server.

I've traced it to a permissions problem. If we log in as an admin, everything works fine. If we add "everyone" to the permissions for the acrobat exe, and give it read/write permissions, it works as well. However, adding those permissions for the domain user changed nothing.

We've returned the permissions to normal, and have disabled "Protected Mode" for now on a limited number of machines. Hopefully the restricted user rights will prevent any problems.

Here is the latest: I upgraded a computer to Adobe Reader 10.1.1. Now, it no longer crashes when attempting to print to network printers--it simply does nothing...whether or not Enhanced Security is enabled or disabled.

As per my original diagnostics, I can be more specific: it fails only when printing via a shared printer. I have many IP-based printers on my networks but prefer to install the driver to my Windows 2003 SBS server and share the printer with my XP Pro workstations. In this case (the only recent upgrade), I can resolve the problem by adding the IP port and printer driver directly to my workstation. Upon doing this, Adobe Reader prints just fine to the printer. However, when I print to the printer on the workstation that points to the shared printer on the server, nothing happens.

All other programs (Outlook, Word, Excel, IE, accounting software, etc) have no problem printing to the printer either way. I would guess that this is a continuation of the problem that first appeared in Adobe Reader X, but without the crash.

It gets very time-consuming troubleshooting these things, and my clients' entire world relies heavily on Adobe Reader working correctly. I want my Reader 9 back! I may have to resort to just reinstalling that. It is hardly practical to change my printer installation and management methods on behalf of one application.

Try reverting to Adobe Reader 9.4. As far as I know, this is the latest version that does not have this problem. In my most recent case, I solved the non-printing issue by doing two things:

1. Disabling protected mode.

2. Installing the printer driver directly on the affected PC (i.e. instead of connecting the PC to the printer as shared from the server).

All seemed fine until the user attempted to delete a PDF file after printing. Then (and consistently), Adobe Reader crashed every time the user attempted to delete a PDF after printing it and closing Adobe Reader.

My clients pay me to manage their systems, not to run beta tests for software providers such as Adobe. I finally just removed 10.1.1 and reverted to Reader 9.4 for this PC, which has apparently resolved these issues. Version X has had these unresolved issues at least since it hit me in February--nine months ago. I had hoped that version 10.1.1 would fix the problem that first appeared in version 10.0, but that is apparently not so.

I think the driver that some of these fancy printers in combination of the Windows systems (for me Win7) are not compatible.

My story, I have a multifunction OfficeJet. I had days of trouble installing it, actually finding the correct driver that would allow the printer to offer all it's functions. I have a network with all wireless communications. Before I found the correct driver..from HP actually, Adobe worked. After I updated the driver Adobe didn't work...crashed like others have been experiencing. What I've done, and you could do for your 40 or so Adobe users. I added another printer, either on the network or individual PCs, but this time I choose the most generic driver for that printer that was available. For sure don't choose the driver the PC finds but pick off the product/driver list you are offered. When Windows offered I choose NOT to make it the default printer. After it was installed I went to the new installed Printer Properties and renamed it &quot;Adobe Printer&quot;... Back to Default Printer...if the user doesn't use the fancy stuff..faxing,scanning, you could change/make the default printer to the Adobe Printer (you might choose a different name)...for everyone else Show the User that when they want to print a document from Adobe, the first document they will need to use the menu item &quot;FILE&quot; down to &quot;PRINT&quot; and change the printer to the Adobe Printer they should see in the list. As long as they keep the Adobe Window open it will remain and they can just choose the printer icon. If you did make the Adobe printer the default printer then they can just click on the Printer Icon.

I know it's not the perfect solution, I suspect this isn't an Adobe problem but a Print Drive problem. At least this will give you time to start questioning whoever/what ever company made your printer for a driver that resolves this problem.

Nope. I manage multiple corporate networks, all of which have the same problem, and none have printers requiring multifunction drivers. These are industrial-strength copier/scanner/printers, but th eonly thing installed on the workstations is a PCL5 or PCL6 printer driver; the scanner components all use SMB and/or e-mail push technology to push scans out via e-mail or to shared folders on the Small Business Server domain controller / file server.

It happens regardless of which of our five or six printers is used--it is 100% related to the new Reader security options in relation to shared network resources. If I install the printers locally (i.e. add the IP port, then install the driver to print there instead of using a server-based share), there is no problem with the Adobe Reader printer. It is simply not practical to plan deployment of printer drivers to a hundred computers individually because one program's fancy security settings choke on it.

I would like to add to this thread also, maybe Adobe can get us a fix with it:The problem does indeed seem to be with the "Enabled Protected Mode at startup", as unchecking this box makes the problem corrected immediately. However, I am not thrilled about leaving an unprotected software in this state. My device is a windows 7 64 bit, and I am printing to an HP Laserjet 4250. I only mention it because another user on this thread has the exact same printer. The part that I do find strange though, is that we are using the "HP universal" print drivers, so the printer on the other end of the driver should not hold relevance (except that it's a newer HP). I will run in the degraded state for now, but not happy that Adobe hasn't fixed this yet (my current version is 10.1.2).

Side note: I also see that this link includes instructions on how to disable the auto-duplex printing setting; however, this is next to useless in a multi-user managed system, as it requires every user to make the change on every computer they use.I had hoped that I would find some way to disable this by default for all users of the computer, but it is a per-user setting--again something in which Adobe has decided how things work and provided only a per-user configuration tool. These things are a little frustrating for adminstrators of mid-size networks: small networks are easy to manage one computer at a time; large networks are easy to manage using Group Policies, but midsize networks are not easy either way.

We are trying to get everyone to duplex where possible to save on paper costs. That option being ‘on” by default helps us in this endeavor. I plan to leave it in the “on” position and will wait for someone to complain. If there are a lot of complaints, I might send a preemptive note to everyone explaining the option and how to turn it off. But right now, I plan to leave the option on. I don’t anticipate there being a lot of complaints because we have a pretty good “green” mentality building here lately.

Actually, I don't have the problem myself, but a lot of our customers report it. We are providing a virtual printer to save paper and ink. and actually in some computers, it seems to contribute to this crash. The problem is we don't have any other way to know what is going on. We have contacted Adobe support team, and we didn't get any reply.

I can't install the patch myself.

Our product is http://www.greencloudprinter.com and for now, it is causing really a lot of issues then we can't solve. it is hard to contact a guy which just download a product, to explain the safe mode is a solution. the patch is there. so it means Adobe is aware of the problem.

Of course, installing FoxIt Reader and it works like a charm. I hope we will not have to wait 3 months for the quarterly update to fix the problem with our GreenCloud Printer software. anyone from Adobe Support can contact us to help to see what is the incompatibility ?

I can't provide a solution but I can describe another Adobe X printing issue. When I loaded Reader X on a PC with Windows 7 and a Lexmark printer purchased in 2011, I could not print any PDF files. I had to remove and reload Reader 9.4 and now it works great. I just can't get rid of the "push file" from Adobe asking me to download Reader X. Firefox will not allow it to be downloaded but I am trying to figure out how to remove the "push" film from my PC, it shows up every time I restart my computer. Any ideas how to remove the file before it is installed automatically?

ManishPali actually put me on the right path, I had this error now too (even tried creating a text only pdf as my pdf's had a jpeg embedded) and I resolved by changing the "Enable Protected Mode at Startup", then under Security(enhanced) I unchecked "Enable Enhanced Security" as well and this resolved my issue, hope it helps people going forward.

You are right a work around is not the solution! At first I thought it was the printer driver but the printer was relatively new. I will take your advice and stick with Adobe Reader 9.4 and wait for someone at Adobe headquarters on King Street in San Francisco to wake up and fix the problem with their reader X software.

Just so you know, Adobe - this issue has just recently reared it's ugly head on my own pc: when trying to print (hit print button or otherwise attempt to print) Adobe X (fully updated as of today's date) immediately crashes. Doesn't matter which printer is set as default, local or network. When I take off the protected mode thing, it's fine.

This is a machine running XP SP3, also fully updated.

I haven't tried it on the other machine, running Windows 7, but I know it was working last week, so I'll letcha know!

Same problem with Adobe X crashing on multiple machines in multiple locations, all trying to print on a network printer. Disabling protected mode seems to be the solution. This bug is more than a year old, why isn't it fixed???

I had this problem of Reader X hanging up when printing to Brother MFC-9840-CDW via PC-Fax v.2 (which is a fax program). Reader X did not hang up when printing to the Brother MFC-9840-CDW as a printer or when printing to a HP LaserJet 220dtn.

The AdobeReaderPatch10.1.2_cpsid_92870.exe did not help but disenabling Protected Mode at startup resolved the hanging up of Reader X when printing to Brother MFC-9840-CDW via PC-Fax v.2.